America's Most Over-Rated!

[voluptuary_manque]

Hello all,
In this thread we discuss those products, companies, services, etc. which receive outrageously overblown reviews and provide mediocre (at best!) results.

Today . . . Five Guys Hamburgers.

The meat was dry, the lettuce limp and the music was Bob Dylan making his usual feeble attempts to sing with the volume turned up to ten. The fries were decent, though.

In all, no better than 3 out of a possible 10. An adequate refueling stop, but not a place to eat.

 

[lovecraft68]

50 Shades of Gray.

Seriously. After the initial wave of hype and its Good Morning America spot the book has received as many negative reviews as positive. The people who bought it for the hype are disappointed.

 

[lovecraft68]

Hello all,
In this thread we discuss those products, companies, services, etc. which receive outrageously overblown reviews and provide mediocre (at best!) results.

Today . . . Five Guys Hamburgers.

The meat was dry, the lettuce limp and the music was Bob Dylan making his usual feeble attempts to sing with the volume turned up to ten. The fries were decent, though.

In all, no better than 3 out of a possible 10. An adequate refueling stop, but not a place to eat.

My brother in law is a district manager for 5 guys. I'm sending him this post.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

My brother in law is a district manager for 5 guys. I'm sending him this post.

Maybe it will get some people tightened up!

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind/ Gone with the Wind.

The only reason those are in the same category is because I have people (who are otherwise normal and perfectly functional members of society) Who rave about them. Not only my friends, but critics.

I have watched both, and I am unimpressed with one, and actively disgusted by the other.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Coffee at Jack in the Box. The breakfast dishes are alright, but the coffee tastes like water that kidney beans have been boiled in.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Buddt Holly as a rocker. When he was alive, he was okay, but nothing special. Since his death, he has been elevated to super star, on a par with Elvis and the Beatles.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Steinbeck as a writer.

I've only attempted three of his novels, so maybe I just haven't found the 'right' one yet.

Couldn't get into GoW,
Could only muster halfway through East of Eden
Could barely start The Pearl


However, Of Mice and Men is still one of my favorite novels of all time. Funny how these things work, eh?

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Any Marvel comic written by Mark Millar. The guy does good "moments," but for constructing a coherent narrative, he kinda sucks. And by "kinda," I mean a LOT.

 

[lovecraft68]

Any Marvel comic written by Mark Millar. The guy does good "moments," but for constructing a coherent narrative, he kinda sucks. And by "kinda," I mean a LOT.

Damn, you nailed that! I've thought that for a long time.

I'll go one further and I get a lot of flack. Although he has improved and done some good things I always felt Bendis is over rated.

He initially made his fame at Marvel with Ultimate Spiderman. All he was doing was retelling the original series and slapping a modern spin on it and getting all kinds of props. Essentially he was writing fanfic of the original Lee/ Ditko work.

All his indy stuff sold like crap before that to further prove the point.

I think Kirkman rules hands down, although in walking dead I feel he has been guilty of going over the top with his "human cruelty" aspects.

 

[lovecraft68]

The Edge from U2.

All his riffs sound the same because he seems to only know a few chords and even with those he has about 20 effects pedals in front of him to get them.

 

[PennLady]

I doubt I'd be alone in adding Starbucks to the list, although I admit I'm biased against a bit b/c I don't like coffee (no, I don't, really). However, they don't have much else to entice me (don't like their chai much, either) and it's all overpriced.

I may get slammed, but I'd add John Lennon, too.

As for Five Guys, my experiences have all been good, but it's been limited experience, and in Virginia.

 

[lovecraft68]

I doubt I'd be alone in adding Starbucks to the list, although I admit I'm biased against a bit b/c I don't like coffee (no, I don't, really). However, they don't have much else to entice me (don't like their chai much, either) and it's all overpriced.

I may get slammed, but I'd add John Lennon, too.

As for Five Guys, my experiences have all been good, but it's been limited experience, and in Virginia.

My wife would agree on Starbucks. She meets her life coaching clients there sometimes. Borders(RIP) had a much better coffee shop.

Starbucks is to expensive and yuppie for me.

I will not slam you for Lennon. Couple of good songs, but far from the be all end all. I thought he was over rated as a "man of peace" as well.

Now here comes the slam. he was a druggie burn out. Period.

And The Five guys in Seekonk where my BIL started as a manger is pretty good.

The burger place that is over rated to me is Fudruckers in Boston. I'm not sure if they're a chain or not.

 

[estragon]

Fuddruckers is a chain. I haven't tried it, so no comment.

Comment: "I may get slammed, but I'd add John Lennon, too."--SA Penn Lady.

SA Penn Lady, I admire you too much ever to slam you, but you are wrong about John Lennon. Yes, LC he was a druggie burnout; and That Woman destroyed him. But he was an original, powerful voice, and his best work will live.

 

[PennLady]

My wife would agree on Starbucks. She meets her life coaching clients there sometimes. Borders(RIP) had a much better coffee shop.

You know, that's an interesting observation. When I read stuff about the demise of Borders, some people attributed it (in small part) to the fact that they did not have Starbucks (that went to Barnes & Noble). Definitely too expensive, don't care about yuppie or not.

I will not slam you for Lennon. Couple of good songs, but far from the be all end all. I thought he was over rated as a "man of peace" as well.

Now here comes the slam. he was a druggie burn out. Period.

This may go back to the art v artist discussion (and I am not trying to derail the thread), but one problem I had with Lennon was how, according to what I read, he pretty well abandoned his first wife and son. That doesn't sit well with me. When you're writing songs asking people to be good to each other and give peace a chance, perhaps you should start close to home.

And The Five guys in Seekonk where my BIL started as a manger is pretty good.

The burger place that is over rated to me is Fudruckers in Boston. I'm not sure if they're a chain or not.

Fuddruckers is a chain. I like them well enough (there was one near us in Virginia) but they were too pricey.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Can I add Subway, dry bread, unimaginative fillings and high prices.

On a literary front, I would like to add Dan Brown. His writing is turgid, the openings so standardized and the whole misplaced reputation rests on a poorly written and researched novel that started the cult of a 'Da Vinci Code'.

Without the musicality of McCartney, Lennon would never have escaped the sweaty cellars of Hamburg bars.

 

[lovecraft68]

You know, that's an interesting observation. When I read stuff about the demise of Borders, some people attributed it (in small part) to the fact that they did not have Starbucks (that went to Barnes & Noble). Definitely too expensive, don't care about yuppie or not.



This may go back to the art v artist discussion (and I am not trying to derail the thread), but one problem I had with Lennon was how, according to what I read, he pretty well abandoned his first wife and son. That doesn't sit well with me. When you're writing songs asking people to be good to each other and give peace a chance, perhaps you should start close to home.



Fuddruckers is a chain. I like them well enough (there was one near us in Virginia) but they were too pricey.

You're right. Shades of Art vs artist.

Yes, Lennon ditched his first son and wife. Maybe they were to boring for him. He was as I stated an addict and Yoko was a bigger loser so they worked out well.

I try to avoid any form of "hero worship" For instance, I'm a lifelong Pats fan. I love Tom Brady as a quarterback. Aside from that I don;t give 2 shits who he is married to, who he is modeling for and what his views are. To me its shut up and throw the ball.

I'm the same with musicians and actors. I could care less about Brad Pitts views and how many kids he's adopted. I know I liked him in se7en and Fight Club.

But when things get extreme, like Polanski and very recently the Paterno scandal that becomes hard to define the line.

 

[mcguinness]

Any Marvel comic written by Mark Millar. The guy does good "moments," but for constructing a coherent narrative, he kinda sucks. And by "kinda," I mean a LOT.

Mark Millar is an idiot. I don't understand why anyone likes him or his work.

 

[lovecraft68]

Mark Millar is an idiot. I don't understand why anyone likes him or his work.

Ah, another comic geek.

Well, I'll just come out and say this. No one can touch Alan Moore. Period.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Fuddruckers is kind of bad.

But their breakfasts are fuddrucking amazing!

Yeah, Fuddrucking replaced 'fucking' for a few days after I ate there.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Subway is disgusting. I like sandwiches but theirs are enough to make a bear swear off bread.

 

[kimbalee]

I can't stand CiCi Pizza. blech! I find it absolutely awful, and you definitely need to be a kid used to terrible school cafeteria pizza to think that is acceptable on any level. yuck. disgusting.

 

[Hubs_in_hose]

Hello all,
In this thread we discuss those products, companies, services, etc. which receive outrageously overblown reviews and provide mediocre (at best!) results.

Today . . . Five Guys Hamburgers.

The meat was dry, the lettuce limp and the music was Bob Dylan making his usual feeble attempts to sing with the volume turned up to ten. The fries were decent, though.

In all, no better than 3 out of a possible 10. An adequate refueling stop, but not a place to eat.

I totally disagree. There is a 5 Guys in the same complex where I work and it is my favorite burger place. I have not experienced what you did when I eat there. The veggies are fresh and crisp (even the pickles!) and the meat is always hot and juicy. I could eat there every week, but I have to put some limits

Now in my area we have the usual burger joints (Mc.D's, Wendys, Sonic) and being Texas we have the regional chains (Whattaburger, DQ, Smashburger, and MooYah). Recently In-n-Out moved in and we have Culver's so I think I have eaten at most of the chain burger establishments. Of all of them, Five Guys is my favorite.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Damn, you nailed that! I've thought that for a long time.

I'll go one further and I get a lot of flack. Although he has improved and done some good things I always felt Bendis is over rated.

I have mixed emotions about Bendis. I think he does an amazing job at characterization. I think his dialogue is awesome, so much so that he has forced other comics writers to raise their game. Frequently, the premise to his stuff is really great; "New Avengers" was wonderful when it started, and stayed that way, right up until Quesada and Millar shit on virtually everything with their Civil War and Brand New Day idiocy. "Secret War" had the best premise for a limited series in many years.

Thing is, the follow through just ain't there. You *know* a Bendis storyline isn't gonna have the climactic payoff that you expect from its beginning. Secret War started wonderfully and then left you feeling, "Wait, what the hell was that?" Same with all those awesome plot threads of New Avengers. And you *knew* House of M would, in the end, be a total wash.

I'm not even picking up Marvel stuff until they put Peter & Mary Jane back together. I feel like we're still living through a second Clone Saga.

 

[Darkniciad]

I'm fortunate to have missed the clone saga and all that mess. I went and blinked through the Marvel Universe bios on a few things yesterday when I saw the leaked "Iron Patriot" shots from IM3 that are floating around.

Norman Osborne? The fucking Green Goblin in Iron Man armor? BLASPHEMY! Gen. Ross a red Hulk? Already knew about the Mephisto deal with Spidey and MJ.

W
T
F
?

I'll stick to the movies. Can't stomach the cover prices any more anyway.